Page 55 of Ignited in Iceland
He spoke in Icelandic to the woman who came over to them, and they were shown to a table for two in the busy restaurant.
‘I like the shakshouka,’ Siggi said, pointing it out on the menu, which usefully had an English translation. It sounded good; stewed tomatoes with egg served with sourdough bread.
‘I don’t think I can resist the waffles,’ Iris said, looking longingly at someone else’s table where a steaming plate of fluffy-looking waffles had just been served.
‘Coffee?’ Siggi asked.
Iris nodded, and when the waitress came over, he ordered their breakfast in Icelandic. It was sexy hearing him speak his native language, but for the first time, Iris thought about it in the context of staying in Iceland, and didn’t think it sounded like a language that would be easy to learn. When Bjarkey had said the name of some of the volcanos, the words bore no resemblance to how it looked like they should be pronounced when Iris saw them written. Suddenly, that seemed like a problem when it hadn’t mattered before.
‘How was your day yesterday?’ he asked her, lacing his fingers in between hers across the table.
‘Really good. We went to Hraunvik again.’
‘Is anything happening there?’
‘We saw some evidence of movement on the surface. There were a couple of fissures which Bjarkey reported.’ She watched for his reaction. ‘And we set up a couple more seismometers now that we have a better idea of what might be happening.’There was something in his eyes that Iris couldn’t quite fathom; he definitely didn’t look as relaxed as he had before she’d mentioned Hraunvik. ‘And something else happened yesterday.’
Iris had been going over and over the best way to tell Siggi about the potential job offer from the IMO. She didn’t want it to sound as if she’d engineered the opportunity because of how things were progressing between them. But it was hard to think of it in isolation.
‘My boss insisted that I leave Iceland. He wants me back in the office by tomorrow, whether the report is finished or not.’
Siggi shook his head. ‘That seems crazy. Isn’t it better to wait for the eruption and then you have the whole story.’
‘Exactly. Anyway, I’ve told him that I’m staying, at least until something happens. Because you’re right, leaving now jeopardises the past two years of work that I’ve done.’
‘Man, this guy is an idiot,’ he said, shaking his head again and grinning. ‘You are not worried about going against him?’
‘I was. I’m pretty sure he wants to fire me but then I talked things through with Bjarkey and I guess I have options I hadn’t considered before.’
‘Wow, that’s great, Iris.’ He beamed at her. It was great to see that he understood what that meant to her.
She nodded enthusiastically and carried on. ‘Anyway, Bjarkey introduced me to Emil, he runs the IMO team. When he heard what’s been happening with Jay, he basically offered me a position.’
Siggi pulled his hand away, leaned back in his chair and pushed his fingers through his hair. ‘Wow, I mean…I don’t know what to say.’
His reaction told Iris everything she needed to know. He’d jumped to the conclusion that she was basing her life choices around their relationship. She’d known there was a risk that he’d think that, but it still hurt to see him react so predictably.
‘You don’t need to say anything. I haven’t decided on anything yet. It’s made me realise that I have options I hadn’t been aware of before, that’s all. Whether that’s here in Iceland or in other places around the world.’
Their food arrived and Iris was grateful for the pause in conversation while they ate.
‘You should not make any decisions with me in mind, Iris,’ he said without meeting her eye.
‘I wasn’t going to, Siggi,’ she said gently, trying to catch his eye.
‘You know what we decided. You staying doesn’t change anything.’
It felt like a punch to her stomach. She was almost physically winded by how much that comment hurt. She’d honestly thought that they’d at least discuss how the future might look in the light of her staying in Iceland and yet it seemed a discussion wasn’t what Siggi wanted.
‘I don’t know what would give you the impression that I would stay in Reykjavik just to continue whatever this is with you.’
He looked at her, now with hurt in his eyes. And that cut into her just as deeply. She didn’t want to hurt him, but also, she needed him to know that he had thrown the first punch.
‘I am sorry, Iris. Even if you stay, I will not. I will still be leaving at the end of the summer.’
Now he was twisting the knife. Did he know how much this was hurting? This was rejection. Nothing could be worse than this. Leaving him tomorrow, thinking she might never see him again, would not be worse than this. The coldness in his tone. The way he was avoiding looking at her, when only a couple of days ago she had been his love.
How had it come to this?
